ALL THE COLORS (Wednesday Randomness)

I’d had every intention of spending the entire night editing and just getting to my Wednesday post this afternoon (evening, or whenever I woke up), but . . . my wrist hurts from writing so much. So here I am!

I print my books out to edit them because I would honestly rather not read anything on a screen if I didn’t have to, and I’ve found I’m able to catch more when it’s actually on paper.

I use gel pens to edit. You know . . . the really inky ones (not the ones that write thin) that feel like you’re writing with air? I also have pretty big handwriting in general, so needless to say, I go through A LOT of pens. (Writing a bit larger than normal comes in handy when inputting changes, I should add to my own defense.)

All in all I’ve gone through an UNGODLY amount of pens from editing over the past several years. But I’ll be totally honest, I just love seeing the pretty colors. (What?) Getting new pens is like Christmas for me, only better. I get to organize them in the order I want them used (OCD much?) and all sorts of fun things. And I do love moving from one color to the next.

I’ve thought a lot about the trees I’m killing with editing (I love trees), but I hadn’t really thought about all the pens. Mostly because I save them (WHAT?) and have full intention to recycle them at some unknown point in time. Probably after I’ve accumulated a number of them that goes past ungodly and into the realm of, “I don’t even know what to call this.”

But I had a thought earlier.

You see . . . one of my hobbies is making make up. (I haven’t done in quite a while, partially due to lack of time and partially because . . . . . . . . . erm . . . . . . the amount I already have is startling . . . and partially because I’m always in pajamas. Meaning: no makeup on.) This is related to pens, just hold on.

I had a bit of . . . . um . . . we’ll call it an obsession a while back. That’s putting it lightly because I can’t tell you how many times my husband has heard me say, “I WANT ALLTHE COLORS.” (Yes, that is exactly what I ran around saying.) The problem (which is also the awesome thing about it) is that when you make your own eyeshadow . . . there is an ENDLESS amount of colors. You can mix them to make new colors. You can do all sorts of things. The possibilities (color-wise) have NO LIMIT. (Also make nail polish, but I’m still on a biting streak [ ] so I guess that shouldn’t even count because I CAN’T use it.)

Anyway, I don’t know what made me think of it, but I looked at my husband and asked, “Do you think the metallic gel pens are basically just mica?”

They LOOK like mica. (All this time it’s taken for me to think, “Hey . . . this looks like that.” >.o)

So now I have this crazy idea in my head that I want to use some of that mica to attempt making my own ink and refilling my gel pens.

ALL THE COLORS.

*cough*

I looked it up and apparently you can mix the mica with aloe vera and it will make ink. (?????? Weird.) But I’m kind of . . . . . . dense when it comes to making things work, and I don’t know how to get the ink into the pen (if it would actually BE ink).

But I’ve got all this mica (ALL THE COLORS) that I could do this with. I think it would be fun. I might try it, even though it would put a halt on the ‘don’t know what to call this’ goal.

I’m SO glad I have a husband that doesn’t care if I make an entire room sparkly (XBox and all accessories included).

If I actually do this, I will say something about it on here. And if I figure it out, I might share the knowledge. There’s pretty much nothing about that on the internet (obviously a lot of people have no interest in this specific thing), but maybe it might help someone out later.

I should add:

The likelihood of me actually figuring out how to get the ‘ink’ in the pen and making it work is . . . pretty much nonexistent. (My brain doesn’t work that way.)

I will have to see if that works for a regular pen and not a fountain pen. It very well might.
But even if someone else could get it to work, this will probably play out with me putting the end of it in ink and just sitting there shouting, “WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING?”

There probably is, but I’m horrible at finding things I want to find on the internet if it’s not on the first page or two of search results. Is it ironic that I can’t ever think of the right words to search with?

It’s hilarious that I searched for things REALLY close to that and found nothing, then looked for one of those and found something. I’m going to try this out sometime within the next week, I think.
Thanks for your help, haha.

Man, you’re a maverick! To think you edit with paper and pen brings shivers from the soles of my feet to the top of my spine. I could never do that. I need my Word. However, I do write in longhand, so there’s something we have in common–we kill trees. I don’t like the idea, but maybe one day someone can come up with a software package that would have the ability to decipher my writing and convert it to Word. Until that day, I’m still honing my work with notebook and pen–much like you with editing!

That’s hilarious because I could never actually WRITE the book down. That would take me forever, omg. I don’t have the patience for it. It’s more, ‘Get the story out,’ THEN take the time for all the ‘glittering up’ (haha with the pens) in the edits.

That would be crazy if someone could figure that out (inputting changes is my least favorite part).

Don’t you think you’re able to get better writing out of it that way? With actually having to spend the time it takes on it? I think I write better that way . . .

I only do the edit-on-paper thing once, when I’m near my last edit, but it’s amazing what you can pick up that you don’t when you read the screen. Even when editing from the screen, something as simple as changing the font can help. And yet, despite all that, typos still slip through. Argghh!

I’m convinced that doing one edit on the computer is what frustrated me so much about the end result of Reave. I tend to add things without putting as much thought into them when it takes two seconds to type a sentence, opposed to two minutes writing it down.
I know I catch more when it’s actually on paper.
It DEFINITELY cuts back on the typos, but yeah, they sure do slip through regardless. (I almost typed regarldess just there, which I guess is kind of proving the ‘typing without paying the right amount of attention’ thing.) >.<

It’s taken me a long time to get more comfortable, and there’s still much more I could do on the site, but I find I really enjoy it. It’s fun to see what others are reading and what they think of the book.

Yeah, I think I’m a long way from being comfortable enough to participate in message boards or whatever, but I suppose that isn’t saying much. They scare me on any site.

I really do like GoodReads though. It’s pretty awesome. I wish I’d been on it several years ago when I was reading ALL THE TIME.
But I’ve never been comfortable reviewing books and that’s even worse now, so . . . kind of a bummer there.

AHHH!
It’s going to be SO hard not to write a mini-novel in response to this. It will probably end up being one, so I apologize in advance . . .

Don’t you get sick of wearing the same eyeshadow colors every day? I like having all the options to change it up to whatever I’m in the mood for.

As for the cheaper part, that depends ENTIRELY on how you’re looking at it. I order the supplies from wholesale websites, which have a minimum order requirement, but for everything itself, it’s much cheaper (for the amount). But if you buy MAC or something along that price range, yes, it is a LOT cheaper (and is essentially the EXACT same thing) unless you only buy one.

The awesome thing about it (apart from the colors) is you can choose your own base to put in it all, so you can have it as smooth as you want it or whatever without paying for all the fillers a lot of companies use.

If you’re curious, my favorite wholesale website for it is http://www.tkbtrading.com . . . The samples (which are $1.50) are enough to press an eyeshadow the size of a MAC one, make a mini nailpolish, and still have about 9/10ths of it left to mess around with. It’s ridiculous.
(Another good one is http://www.theconservatorie.com . . . their samples are smaller though.)
I’ve also bought a lot of samples from smaller indie companies (they’re usually $1.00) and just pressed those myself. They already have bases or whatever, so I don’t have to use up my supply of that. (www.shirocosmetics.com and http://www.meowcosmetics.com are my two favorites. Meow Cosmetics has pretty small samples [still enough for about 10 or more uses], but they’re SO SMOOTH.)

It’s really fun messing around with all of it, and I think pressing eyeshadow is one of my favorite things to do ever. And as far as ‘messy’ things go, you can’t beat it.

The mica can be used for pretty much any/everything. They always list whether it’s lip safe or not, so you can make lipstick/gloss, etc. Use it for nail polish, blush . . . pretty much anything. It’s just so great.

I’m sorry for all the rambling, but I almost never get to talk about make up. My husband enjoys all the colors, but . . . it’s just not the same. haha

This is wonderful. I can totally relate, not to the pen thing exactly, but every time you said ALL THE COLORS my own obsession prone heart fluttered a little. Yes. Typically I’m in a bookstore screaming (in my head of course) ALL THE BOOKS. Give me them. Must have.

And in our black and white world, colored only by imagination (wonderful as that is) writers can use all the help they can get. All power to you and your colorful pens.

Haha, yeah, I get a bit obsessive over quite a few things. I do the same with books (which is how I ended up with so many of them). And if I could get away with it, I would say it with, “ALL THE SHOES,” as well. I do that with movies. One of my best friends has accused me of being a hoarder on multiple occasions, but I think there’s a difference between liking some things a lot (or obsessing over them XD) and just getting random things you have no interest in.

I loved what you said at the end there. That’s a spectacular way to look at it. Do you care if I use that if anyone ever gives me crap about the amount of empty pens I have?

I used to be OBSESSED with gel pens. Absolutely obsessed! That weird kid in the back that blew off their parents about ink poisoning and would come out of class with a new 3/4 sparkly sleeve? That was me. Haha. Where do you get most of your pens? I can only find them at book stores and JoAnns!

HAHAHA
I never really drew on my arms/hands (can’t draw), but I did WRITE on them. I still do that actually – write notes for myself on my hands.
Yeah, I definitely didn’t care what anyone was saying about ink poisoning. The problem with gel pens and skin is that it comes off SO EASILY. I guess better that way than with the pens that won’t come off even after 20 washes of hands…

I get mine all over the place. I usually go buy several packs of them at a time and mix them all up. I have NEVER seen them in a book store! What kind of awesome book stores do you have?!
And is JoAnns like Michaels?

I get some of mine at Michaels. Those Sakura ones write SOOOO smooth, but when they get near the end they won’t work for crap (also expensive). Get some of them at office supply stores and others just at Wal-Mart and whatnot. I should probably go do some checking around town and see if other stores carry any . . .

Nice to meet another gel pen enthusiast though. There’s just something fantastic about the way it feels to write with them . . .

It was a gel pen but my absolute favorite for skin marking purposes were the Pilot Precise V5’s. I loved those pens. Especially since gel pens were and are so expensive! I have a habit that if I buy or am gifted something that I know I probably shouldn’t torture my wallet for – I don’t use them. Or as little as I can get away with. Haha. (TIP: use hand sanitizer. Ink washes off like a charm)

And I can’t really draw unless I am zoned out and not focusing on trying to draw a specific image. Otherwise I just muck it up. Henna designs were my go to.

Usually stores like BAM (Books A Million) and Barnes and Noble will have them at the very front in little gift packs with a the knick knacks and book marks. But I usually just went with JoAnns. Larger variety and you have a choice of sets or buying them individually. JoAnns is pretty similar to Michaels but is a scrapbooking/apparel and craft sewing/quilting haven. Paints. Designs. Tools. Fabric. Machines. Small selections of everything you may need for an in depth crafting.

Yeah, I can see how those Pilot pens would be good for skin marking purposes. 😀
AND YES, gel pens can get ridiculously expensive. Especially for how long (not) they last. I go through one in just a couple hours when I’m editing. -_-
I get what you mean. I have a problem with not wanting to use up the entirety of anything, which is how I end up with so many partial-bottles of hair products. lol

I’ve never done anything with henna. How difficult is that to work with? At least you can draw at all!

That’s weird. I’ve seriously never seen gel pens in B&N. Then again, I sometimes try very hard not to look at the things in the front of stores because I want to get it all.

JoAnns sounds like heaven. I suck at crafts and whatnot, but I wish I didn’t. I could wander around in Michaels for hours. Or for about AN hour, which is a long time for me to do something like that.

It isn’t so much I will end up with partially spent products everywhere, it that they WON’T get used at all. Haha.

And henna the actual product is a hit or miss with me. I don’t have steady enough hands to not go and wind up smearing it every where especially since I am a southpaw! I mainly mean henna by the design. Haha.

If I am going out by myself , I usually am pretty quick about it. I don’t generally have the attention span/patience for shopping. If I am out with friends that is a different story but that is rarely the case, living out in the middle of no where and all. Haha. I’ll plan what I want first and then go in and get it done and browse for maybe about twenty minutes.

I used to do that. I would buy things and not touch them at all because I didn’t want to run out of them. I guess at some point along the way I realized there was no point in not EVER using them. Hence all the partially used products. XD

I’ve never touched actual henna. I do think it’s pretty cool, being so versatile (hair dye?!). But yeah, there’s for sure the issue of messing up and being stuck with it for however long. I can’t draw at all, so I would never attempt it.

I don’t go out by myself often (paranoid), but luckily my husband is super cool about that sort of thing. I’m weird about shopping. I LOVE it, but I don’t spend an entire day in one store or anything. It’s a quick, ‘Like this? No. Like this? No. Like this? Not even a little. Maybe. No. No.No.’ That’s usually how it goes. XD

Hey, living in the middle of nowhere has its advantages. Unfortunately shopping is not one of them. But I kind of like going out of town to do that anyway, maybe because it’s a ‘treat’ to actually do it. Hm. I might just be weird.

I actually thought about making a ‘beauty blog’ a while back, but my camera is HORRIBLE. I think I would suck at doing tutorials, probably because I’m past the ‘experimental’ phase of make up and just do what I do, only with different colors. It would be really fun to get back IN the experimental phase with it, but I used to do some horrible stuff to my face and it’s just not as awesome when you’re closer to 30 than 20. (I’m halfway between, but almost not anymore.)
And I wouldn’t know personal styling if it bit me on the face (that’s better than putting the usual saying there).

But yeah, really did think about the beauty blog, mostly because when I was starting out with the sort of make up I use, other blogs really helped me. That’s how I found out about making it, and also found all the smaller companies that I love.
The excitement is definitely there. A lot of that is because I don’t get to talk about it often.
Maybe one day I will make my ‘all the colors’ blog.
Thanks. 😀